The 10 best shows in FOX network history

7. "The Ben Stiller Show" (1992-93)

Another short-lived Apatow joint, this one had Stiller at the height of his satiric powers as he made pitch-perfect spoofs of the hit movies and TV shows of the day. (Has Janeane Garofalo, for instance, ever been better than she was as Juliette Lewis in "Cape Munster"?) The show was unfortunately one in a very long string of victims of FOX's belief that they could air comedies opposite "60 Minutes" and football overruns, and it was killed after its initial 13-episode order. This may be a case, though, where we remember the show better precisely because it was so short-lived — Apatow, Bob Odenkirk and other people involved with the show have told me that they were already running away from parody ideas by the end of the run, and the other sketches were very hit-and-miss. But for most of its run, it was the smartest and funniest of FOX's many sketch comedy series — not as revolutionary as "In Living Color," but better.